


A Grown Man Expresses an Uncontroversial Personal Preference

by chiaroscure



Series: In Which Thomas and Jimmy Are Functional Human Beings [1]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiaroscure/pseuds/chiaroscure
Summary: One of several ways Jimmy and Thomas might have made slightly more sensible decisions that could have saved them both a lot of grief: rather than speaking to Miss O'Brien, Jimmy has a short chat with Mr Barrow about his value for personal space.
Relationships: Thomas Barrow & Jimmy Kent
Series: In Which Thomas and Jimmy Are Functional Human Beings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713919
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	A Grown Man Expresses an Uncontroversial Personal Preference

“There, do you feel a slight increase in the resistance?”

“I _think_ so,” Jimmy says, concentrating on the feel of the clock’s metal hand against his fingertips. He does it as Mr Barrow showed him, with two fingers, the way a person should take a pulse.

“That’s what you’re watching for,” Mr Barrow informs him, removing his right hand from Jimmy’s on the clock only to put his left on Jimmy’s shoulder. “Never go past the point where the clock is comfortable.”

Jimmy smiles. “You make it sound like a living thing.”

“Well, clocks are living things. My dad was a clockmaker; I grew up with clocks — understand them.” It seems unusual to Jimmy that Mr Barrow is still standing behind him, now the winding of the clock is done, but he doesn’t move either. “Never wind them in the early morning, before the room is warmed up, nor too late, when the night air cools them down. Find a time when the family’s out of the room.”

A door opens in the distance, and Mr Barrow steps away, closing the clock smoothly before turning to lead Jimmy out. Jimmy watches the slope of his shoulders as he follows, feeling strange.

The incident — although it’s hardly an incident at all, really — stays in Jimmy’s mind for the next few hours as he gets on with his work. He cannot for the life of him figure out why; Mr Barrow might have been a bit nice, stood a bit close, talked a bit candidly, but he did nothing _wrong_ , and none of what he did do was at all exceptional. In fact, Jimmy can imagine being in a different mood and reflecting on 'the incident' as something encouraging: from what he can tell, the valet does not keep many close friends, so his talking about his personal background shows that Jimmy is getting into his good books. And Jimmy has never been one to pass up making friends in higher places.

But for whatever reason, the memory of it rubs him the wrong way now.

It wasn’t even objectionable at the time — and he reckons Mr Barrow would have noticed if he had thought it was, with all that talk about attention to resistance — it’s just thinking about it now that bothers him. Jimmy makes himself irritable trying to determine _why_ , since there’s nothing he can think of that should unsettle him about what winding a bloody clock. But it nags at him, and nags at him, the short lesson in clock maintenance becoming a much bigger event in retrospect than it was at the time. Over the hours, he winds himself up enough that he thinks he might snap at Mr Barrow if he ever happens to touch him again. And _that_ doesn’t seem like a very clever thing to do.

Jimmy doesn’t mean to say anything, but the next time he passes Mr Barrow in one of the family’s hallways, he finds himself opening his mouth for more than a quick greeting.

“I wonder if I might have a word, Mr Barrow?” he asks, checking that the hall is empty.

The valet looks at him inquisitively, but nods. _This is a bad idea,_ Jimmy thinks, _you’ve not thought of anything to say. Don’t get yourself sacked_.

“I — well, first thing’s I wanted to thank you for showing me about the clocks,” he continues with his impromptu address. “You didn’t have to do that, and you did. It’ll be a useful skill for me to have, I imagine!”

He sounds cheerfully honest to himself, and Mr Barrow is looking down and laughing like he hadn’t expected to be thanked, which is a good sign. Jimmy wonders if he hasn’t come up with a plan of how to behave in some secret corner of his mind while he was worrying about the rest of it; it wouldn’t be the first time. He lowers his voice, soldiering bashfully on, feeling as if he’s pulling off a fancy bit of acting despite the spontaneity of his behavior.

“But I also wanted to tell you that, well, it’s a bit embarrassing really,” he chuckles with a shy little grimace, “but I don’t do so well with…with being too friendly with people. Knocking shoulders and walking arm in arm and such. I get sort of funny about it in my head sometimes.”

Mr Barrow looks somewhat wary at this, but he doesn’t seem _upset_ , which is promising. He mainly just seems uncertain what to make of this admission.

“I can manage handshakes and the like just fine, of course!” Jimmy says quickly. “I just get uncomfortable with much more than that, sometimes. It’s been that way for a while, you see, after…well, you know.”

He gestures vaguely, knowing Mr Barrow will take this to mean that Jimmy is skittish since the war. That is not an uncommon affliction among veterans, and while it isn’t _quite_ accurate for Jimmy (and, if it was, the war would not be the reason for it), it is a plausible explanation that removes any risk of implied accusation that could be taken as impertinence on Jimmy’s part. Mr Barrow’s expression softens immediately, telling Jimmy that what he’s said has done the job.

“Of course, Jimmy, I’m sorry if — I’ll be sure to remember that in future, if I’ve anything else to show you like the clocks again.”

Jimmy grins. “Thank you for understanding, Mr Barrow. I knew you would, but it’s just…well, it can be awkward to bring up. But I mean no offense; I just thought it better to tell you than to wait and get all jumpy without you knowing why.”

“There’s no offense,” Mr Barrow, the picture now of congenial relief, assures him. “There’s no need to worry about offending anybody with that; nobody would want to make you uncomfortable. Even if someone doesn’t understand, _I_ do, so I…well, anyway, it’s alright. I'm glad you said something. I should be going, but if there’s anything else…?”

“Not at all, and I’m sorry to have kept you!”

Mr Barrow gives him a last smile that is curiously evaluative, dazed, and bright at once before continuing on his way down the hall. Jimmy cracks his neck and straightens his jacket before setting off in the opposite direction, congratulating himself on pulling this off so seamlessly — and without any deliberate planning! He is truly amazing sometimes, and no mistake.

He’s glad he spoke up before he made something out of nothing, too. He wouldn’t want to get himself worked up and risk offending a valet by blowing up at him pointlessly. Now it’s taken care of, he can see that he put himself on edge for no reason; the chances of there being any meaning behind such a small gesture…well, it’s unlikely. And he does _like_ Mr Barrow from what he knows of him; he’s sly, and he has his ear to the ground, but he’s always perfectly kind and helpful to Jimmy; it would be a shame to sour that so soon into Jimmy’s employment here with some silly misunderstanding.

He whistles a cheery tune to himself as he carries on through the empty halls, and doesn’t think about ‘the incident’ again.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more of these; let me know if you have ideas for others, or would like to see me expand on any of them! Likewise, I would be happy for anyone to use these as prompts – please tell if you do so; I’d love to read it!  
> Find me on tumblr at sinaesthete.tumblr.com


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